Learning Tessen, Melbourne Australia

[Coco]

Hi All
I have been studying martial arts from Goju Karate origins, for roughly 10 years and I have become interested in Tessenjutsu. I was wondering if anyone knew a school in Melbourne Australia they could recommend that teach using the Japanese iron fan.
Thank you

 

[Chris Parker]

Hi Coco,

Tessen is a fairly rare item to find at all… and it's never something that's found by itself. It's always as part of a larger art… and (in terms of authentic tessenjutsu), there's really very little found outside of Japan. Systems that include tessenjutsu include Kiraku Ryu (only in Japan), Takenouchi Santo Ryu (only in Japan), Kukishin Ryu (Japan and some of Europe, as well as a training group in Russia that I'm aware of), Ikkaku Ryu (as part of Shinto Muso Ryu, and really, as a secondary weapon in their jutte methods, not in Melbourne, although there are dojo in NSW, QLD, and WA… of course, as Ikkaku Ryu is one of the auxiliary arts taught with Shinto Muso Ryu, you'd need to learn SMR Jo first… and not all dojo would necessarily have the Ikkaku Ryu material), and a few others.

Then you have the various "ninjutsu" schools… the Bujinkan occasionally teach a form of tessenjutsu, although it's not always necessarily going to be historically accurate, authentic, or anything similar (due to the freedom afforded there), or might not be taught at all… it will really depend on the instructor themselves… but, again, might only be a very rare sighing in class. The Jinenkan (who have a training group in Geelong) have tessen taught as part of the Jutte methods (similar to Ikkaku Ryu)… but, again, is a very small part of a much larger system. There is a Genbukan group in Melbourne as well, who might touch on it… but it wouldn't be seen for many years in your training.

I've taught tessen as recently as earlier this year (I'm in Melbourne, for the record)… but probably won't bring it up again for quite a while (no plans at present)… and, again, it's simply one of many, many weapons, in addition to all the unarmed methods we teach. Looking for tessen by itself is going to be a futile search, I'm afraid… as it simply doesn't exist.

I'd also ask what you understand tessenjutsu to be… and might suggest reading through the following thread for some insight into the weapon (I'm going to suggest reading my own posts there primarily, of course): Japanese Iron Fan--Tessen | MartialTalk.Com - Friendly Martial Arts Forum Community

Any questions, just send them through.